Bad Wolf
by Black Snowdrop
Summary: Rose falls through a spike in Rift energy and ends up on a faraway planet. Determined to get back to the Doctor and armed with psychic paper, Rose begins her voyage across the stars. But as she travels through the galaxies, the remnant of an old ally begins to wake up and they have their own agenda as far as Rose is concerned.
1. Chapter 1: Facing the Void

A/N There are going to be some major changes to canon in this fic as well. Torchwood Three's team set up will change. For example Gwen is already part of the team before Ianto joins and in this story Suzie is already dead. Plots from future series' episodes will be brought in earlier but will happen quite differently. There are so many amazing stories that I loved about the post-Rose series that I may use them in this story as it would be interesting to tell them with different dynamics and characters involved. Also as much as I love River, for story purposes she doesn't exist here so other characters may fill their role for any stories that might have normally involved her. Last but not least the events will be set in present day so 2019. So Fear Her would have been a trip to the past rather than future.

Rose felt sick with deja vu the second she landed in the parallel world.

Around her, Jake, Mickey and Pete were taking off their devices. Her mum was looking around, eyes wide with comprehension as she took in the room. It was the exact copy of the room they'd just left, only darker because curtains shielded the room from the light. It was also empty of all furniture, just an expansive office space. Rose looked around and then back at her mum, suddenly all the more conscious of the choice she had to make and ashamed that she already knew what her choice would be.

Jackie's eyes turned to Rose and she hurried forward, tugging the device over her head and handing it to Pete on the way. "Rose," she said and her grey eyes were full of raw understanding. "It'll be all right. He just wants to make you safe," she whispered. "He's always tried to keep you safe and I love him for it." She pulled Rose into a hug and for a moment Rose closed her eyes and hugged her mother. She would never get to do this again. She had to make these seconds count. She wouldn't hold her mother's words against her. She knew that her mother's perspective on this was different from her own. But this was Rose's choice to make, not the Doctor's.

Pulling away from the hug, Rose looked down at her mother. "I can't stand, Mum," she said as her voice shook. "I can't stay here, I'm sorry."

Jackie began to frown. "Rose, please don't-" she reached for the device around Rose's neck but Rose stepped away, hating herself for doing it.

"I don't want to stay in this universe, Mum. I'm sorry," she said with more emphasis as she looked around at the others. "Seriously, it- it means a lot you inviting us here to stay but… my life is with him now, Mum. I don't want to give that up."

Jackie's lips pursed and her eyes began to glisten. But no tears fell. "But you could be killed."

"Or I might not be," Rose countered.

Jackie sighed. "Then I'm going back with you." She stepped forward but Rose reached out to gently hold her back.

"No, Mum," Rose said, her voice still shaking. "You have a second chance here. A second chance with Pete. To be in love again," she said wiping away the tears sliding down her face. "You deserve it. You've been an amazing Mum to me and- and you've done it all alone. You've always put me first." She took a deep, shakier breath.

"You're my daughter. I'm your mum. You will always come first and that will never change." Jackie said firmly. "No one is ever going to matter to me as much as you do."

Rose smiled through her tears. The words were choking her up but she managed to get them out with some difficulty. "But maybe it should change, Mum. I don't want you to miss out on the man you love because of my choice. I've watched you grieving for Dad and how much that hurt you. I want you to be happy, Mum."

"I'll always be happy as long as I've got you," Jackie said though her own face was full of pain. Rose could see the light of hope that had been in her eyes since Pete asked her to come to the new world slowly disappearing now. She was determined to get it back for her. "If you go to that world we'll never see each other again. Is that what you want?"

"No," Rose answered. "I don't want that. I don't want to lose you. But I also don't want you to miss out on this chance. Maybe this is me just being selfish because- because I need to be with the Doctor but- but I mean it Mum. You deserve to be with Pete and focus on a life with him. You've earned it, Mum."

Jackie's eyes finally began to tear up and they streamed down her older, slightly weathered cheeks. She pulled Rose into another hug. "What kind of mother would I be if I let you do this? If I gave you up to that world."

"The kind of mum that is doing the right thing for both of us," Rose whispered in her ear. "I know it's gonna hurt like hell. I can't imagine a world where you're not there but…"

Jackie was silent for a few long seconds. "But you want to be with the man you love." More seconds of silence. She rubbed Rose's back and then took a deep breath. Pulling back, she gently pushed Rose away. "You should go," she said bravely, trying to offer Rose a smile but it was betrayed by the tears on her cheeks. Rose mirrored her expression.

"Yeah? You're going to be okay?" she asked.

"I'll be okay," Jackie promised her. "Just promise me you'll have a good life, Rose. I'm only doing this because that's what I want for you."

"I will," Rose said as relief and a kind of grief flooded through her, filling her blood streams and her lungs with a sharp, stinging ache. "Thank you, Mum."

"I promise I'll take care of your mum," Pete said stepping forward. "You don't need to worry about her."

"Thanks Pete," Rose said. She turned to Mickey who was smiling through slightly glossy eyes of his own. "You look out for her, yeah?"

"Course I will," Mickey said as he moved to hug Rose briefly. "You go back there and be amazing, yeah?"

Rose laughed a little. "I'll try."

"Pff," Mickey said. "You don't have to try. You go back and save the world." He moved away from her and Rose looked around at them all, taking them all in one last time. Her gaze lingered on her mother who had stepped back and taken Pete's hand. It was a nice image, Rose thought to herself.

She suddenly stopped and pulled out her phone, loading the camera. "Let me have this one memory?" she asked.

Jake grinned and started ushering them all together. "Move in, move in, time's a wasting." He started to move away but Rose gestured for him to move back.

"All of you, Jake." She grinned as he stepped in next to Mickey. She took a picture of them all, smiling at their tearful smiles and then she put her phone away.

"Okay then," she said as she lifted the device in her hands. Her fingers pressed onto the yellow button and her family disappeared before her eyes.

Rose appeared back in the brightly lit top floor of the Torchwood Institute. She exhaled, letting the last tears slide down her face. She wiped them away with a sniff. She removed the device and looked down at the button. Looking up, she saw the Doctor leaning over a computer, inputting some figures. He hadn't noticed her yet. Rose started to smile despite the sadness in her heart right now. He could be so obtuse sometimes but she loved him for it.

"Think that's how it works," she joked as she put the device to one side.

The Doctor's head jerked upwards so fast like he'd been shot in the back. Brown eyes searched the room and found Rose within seconds. "Rose…?" he murmured.

He raced around the desk, abandoning his work as he hurried up to her. "What are you doing? You'll be safer there!" he cried out. Rose felt a small rise of anger surge upwards.

"Like I was safe when you sent me away from the Game Station?" she whispered.

The Doctor faltered and Rose sucked in a breath. "Yeah I know you're protecting me," she said. "But this is my choice, not yours. I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never going to leave you," she added. "So what can I do to help?"

In other circumstances, the frozen look of disbelief on the Doctor's face might have been funny but right now Rose was so painfully aware that this was one of those important moments in your relationship with someone, that something else was going on behind the scenes and you didn't really understand why. But you sort of accepted it. Rose accepted it.

"But she's your mum, Rose. You'll never see her again."

"I know," Rose wished her voice hadn't cracked as she spoke. "But she deserves to be happy with Pete and I can't stay there, Doctor. I just can't."

"Why not?" the Doctor asked. "I can't guarantee your safety here."

Rose laughed. It burst out of her so randomly that she couldn't help herself. Tears slid down her cheek. "Let's be real, Doctor, you can never guarantee my safety. That's okay. I don't want to live my life wrapped up in bubble wrap. This is the life I want and- and if you don't want me to come along then you have to make that choice. You don't just get to shunt me off to another universe to protect me. This is my choice, okay?"

The Doctor continued to stare at her. Then, just at the edge of his mouth, a smile began to prick at the corners. "Okay," he murmured. He cleared his throat. "See that panel, switch all the numbers to six."

Rose nodded and hurried over to the computer. She didn't look back as she got to work.

"Okay so attach these to the wall," the Doctor announced ten minutes later as he brought two huge black clamp devices in. He handed Rose one of them and gestured to one wall next to the levers. "Press the red button to activate them. So, all we need to do is push those levers up and hang on tight." He flashed Rose a grin.

"That's more like it." She said as she followed his instructions and set the clamp up on the wall. "Bit of the old magic back there again."

The Doctor laughed. "That's us. Sugar n Spice, Shiver and Shake."

"Which one's Shiver?"

"Oh I'm Shake," the Doctor insisted. He stepped away from the device and looked at Rose hard. "Are you sure about this? This is your last chance to go home."

"I am home," Rose told him, meeting his gaze. Still, a tear slid from the corner of her eye. This was it, the final wall separating her from her mum forever.

"You okay?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah," Rose replied as she walked over to the lever. "So we-" she cut herself off as she looked out of the window. Outside, one Dalek was making its way closer to the window.

"Looks like we have company," the Doctor observed. "Okay, go!"

Simultaneously, they moved the levers up to the upright position. Instantly Rose felt a tug against her face and front, like a powerful wind was just starting up. She ran against it though and grabbed onto the clamp. The pushing sensation intensified and Rose felt her feet being blown off the ground as her arms wrapped around the clamp securely. The effect on the Dalek outside was immediate. With a smashing of glass it came flying through tossing and turning over itself in the air, out of control. At the other side of the room there was a massive wall of light. The Dalek flew into it. More windows smashed as more Daleks and Cybermen began to fly through the hole into the Void.

Rose felt a soaring sensation of triumpjh fly through her. It was working. They were gonna stop the war.

She looked over to the Doctor who was grinning back at her, laughing like a madman. Well, he was that. But he was her madman.

More and more Daleks and Cybermen flew through the windows and into the Void. Rose watched them go, dozens by dozens. Go on, go on. Go to hell. She thought as she watched them. She remembered all the dangers these races had posed to the world and how many times she thought they were done for. But once again they were being foiled. It just went to show that you could find a way out if you were clever like the Doctor and brave enough to at least try. How could she pass up this world? How could she turn down this kind of life, saving people and seeing the stars? She could never do that and she was glad that her mother had .

Thank you, Mum. Rose thought to herself with a smile.

A movement out of the corner of her eye made her heart plummet. The lever on her side had been disjointed. It was slowly lowering back down. Well shit. She reached out towards it, fingers reaching for the handle of the lever. But it was too far away.

"Rose, hold on!" the Doctor shouted over to her.

"I've got to get it upright!" she shouted back. If that fell then the Daleks and Cybermen would come into this room and kill them all. The force was already weakening, their enemies were disappearing into the Void slower now. She couldn't risk it. She leaned over and threw herself forward. Her hands landed on the lever but now she was completely off the clamp. She slid around the lever and used her strength to get a grip on the floor so she could push the lever upwards. It began to move forward. Thank god for that.

As soon as the lever locked into place, though, the full force of the Void picked up again and Rose felt herself being lifted upwards.

"HOLD ON!" the Doctor was screaming at her.

Panic flooded Rose. She could already feel her grip slipping on the lever and the Void didn't seem anywhere near ready to close. Oh god, I'm not going to make it, the horrible thought crept into her mind. She wasn't going to be able to hang on. But she had to try. She had to give it everything she had. She gripped it with all of her energy.

But the force of the Void was too strong. Rose felt one finger lose its grip on the lever, and then another one.

"HOLD ON!" the Doctor kept screaming at her. Rose looked at him and in that moment she didn't think she had ever felt more afraid. He couldn't save her from this. If she let go then that was it. She would go into the void and die. She would break the promise to her mother. She would lose the Doctor and all the adventures they could have had.

But at least she'd gotten that lever up and if this worked out, well dying helping to save the world was not a bad way to go, she supposed.

Another finger slipped. Soon that hand was pulled off entirely.

"ROSE, NO!" the Doctor was screaming. Horror and terror shone out of his face and Rose felt more tears slide down her face.

"I'M SORRY!" she shouted back. Another particularly strong tug of the Void caused her to nearly loose grip on the handle. The amount of Daleks and Cybermen were still consistently rushing past her. She thought about the millions of Daleks and Cybermen that were flying into the Void. This could take a while. But they didn't have a while. She'd lost count of how much time had passed since they'd started.

She summoned the rest of her strength and clutched the lever tightly, trying to regain hold with her other hand. She heard herself screaming, louder and higher than the Cybermen and the Daleks, fighting for her life as she reached for the control. Her hands were aching. Rose tried to ignore that feeling. But it kept pulling and pulling.

She looked towards the Doctor who was still screaming at her. The aching in her hands was now intensifying to pain and Rose tried harder than ever to ignore it.

The Void pull yanked her once more and Rose's hand slipped off the lever. She screamed. Across the room, the Doctor was screaming to, harder and more anguished than ever.

Rose rushed towards the void, towards the end of everything.

A rush of blue-green light surrounded her and Torchwood was gone.

Rose hit grass and rolled over and over. The impact knocked all of the wind out of her. She rolled onto her front and gasped for breath. Seconds passed as she processed that she was in fact alive and was somewhere solid and sturdy. She clutched at the grass as she lifted her head.

Long blades of it surrounded her. Tall, violet blue grass as far as the eye could see. As Rose lifted herself onto her knees, she stared around at where she was. A meadow of the violet grass stretched out for miles. In the distance there were dusky blue shapes of trees. But it was the sky that captivated Rose the most; it was a canvas of magenta sky with lilac clouds drifting across it. In the middle of the sky she saw pale shapes of planets of different sizes, spread across the sky in different positions. There must have been at least six or seven of them. A wind blew through the grass and it rustled, bringing up the scent of blueberries as it did. Blueberry grass, Rose thought. It reminded her painfully of New Earth.

Where the hell was she?

The absence of Daleks, Cybermen and general nothingness told her one thing. This was not the Void.


	2. Chapter 2: Torchwood Secrets

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The gateway to the Void was closed forever. All of the Daleks and Cybermen were gone. The top floor of Torchwood Tower was empty and still./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor stood in the middle of the vacant room, his eyes trained on the flat white wall ahead of him. They were all gone now and his plan to do so had sent Rose with them. He stared at the wall with broken eyes and he remembered, remembered the frightened look in Rose's face as she had disappeared into the Void. He could still hear her screaming. He could still see her fingers losing their final grip on that goddamn lever and the way she had flown into nothingness. The girl who had faced down the Dalek Emperor, who had gotten Queen Victoria to use her catchphrase, who had taken charge when the Earth was in a panic and facing the Sycorax threat, who had helped the Isolus find its way home, who had helped to save the remains of that space crew on Krop-Tor, who had always run headlong into danger and had never backed down from doing the right thing./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That bright, beautiful, shining girl was gone forever./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The tears trickled down his face as he walked towards the wall, gradually building up into a steady stream. How could he be so foolish? He should have sent her back to Pete's World. He should have forced her to go and made sure Pete kept her there. He should have done more to save her. Now Jackie was out there thinking that her daughter was going to be okay, that he was going to look after her, that she was going to be out here living her life day after day, saving the world. She would never know that her daughter was dead ten minutes after coming back to the Doctor. She had trusted him with her daughter./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He placed his hand on the wall as the silent sobs came to him as he thought of the days that Rose would never have, of the adventures they would no longer share. She was nothing but a ghost of what they'd had together, nothing more than a memory. And yet that memory ripped him apart inside./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She had healed him. She had given him a new sense of life after the Time War. He had been reborn in grief and rage from the Time War and Rose had shown him the light. She had embraced his change and everything he was and supported him. She had been everything he could ever have wanted from a companion. She was brave, funny, stood up for him and to him when she needed to, she helped him see things in a way that a Time Lord normally wouldn't. She'd made him smile and laugh for so long and he loved her for it./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He loved her. It was a truth he could no longer deny and now she was gone before he could even tell her. He should have told her. Why didn't he tell her? So what if she was human, if she wouldn't have lived as long as him? They could have had plenty of great years together, amazing years. But he'd missed his chance for good now./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Leaning his head against the wall, the Doctor silently wept for his companion, his Rose./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*******/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Rose was sure that she had been walking for hours./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Her feet and legs were aching and the meadow of violet grass just kept expanding. In the distance the blue shadowy trees were growing closer and, further on to the right, Rose could see the shapes of houses in the distance, some sort of town or village by the looks of things. She felt hope spring up in her heart. Villages meant people, maybe people who could help. But the village was still far off, maybe even miles. Rose looked up at the sky. It was darkening to a plum colour now and the stars were emerging in full brightness now./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Rose slowed down as the woodland crept closer to her. Walking through an alien forest at night wasn't really her idea of safe. She looked towards the right where she could see the town in the distance. It was even further off but she could skirt around the forest if she wanted. In the back of her mind, she wondered if she'd be any safer here as any animals in the trees could still come out of the forest to hunt. Well, thought Rose, it's hardly the first time I've been in danger is it? So she started to head towards the town, along the edge of the woodland area she was approaching./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She'd been walking for some time when another thought occurred to her. The TARDIS isn't here. How am I going to be able to translate what anyone is saying? She cursed her luck. Even if she found anyone helpful, they might not be able to help her. That was just great./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Still, it's better than being in the Void, Rose reminded herself./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Eventually she had to stop and sit down in the grass. Relief spread throughout her legs as she rested. She ran a hand over her face and thought, again, about her predicament./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"So something had gotten in the way of her going through the Void. Perhaps a transmat beam? Some kind of strange barrier? She didn't know. She was just grateful to be alive and away from the monsters. But then there was the matter of getting home. What was she going to do about that? She was stuck here. But at least she was alive. Alive meant she had a chance of finding her way home or finding the Doctor. Really, they were the same thing. The Doctor was home for her. He had been for a long time./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The sky continued to darken as Rose rested. She considered laying down in the long grass, soaking in the scent of blueberries and going to sleep. But it was too much like being an easy target for any animals. Moving, she could at least run away. Stretching out her legs, she picked herself up and made her way around the woodland and towards the town. She kept one eye on the woods as she walked, conscious of any movements that might be an animal preparing to leap at her. But she saw nothing./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"More hours passed and soon Rose's legs were aching again. This time the aches spread all over her joints and muscles. Her eyelids felt heavy and she wasn't even sure if she was walking in a straight line anymore. She swayed and stumbled through the grass more and more. Eventually she crashed to her knees in the grass, her body giving way to sleep./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*******/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was early evening when the sound of footsteps reached the Doctor. He sat against the back wall, breathing hard and staring at his shoes. The noise caught his attention and he looked up to see a group of four people in dark clothing entering the room. He recognized the man leading them by his long military court and the fact that every cell in his body was recoiling from the very fact of him, the fixed point in time that no person should be. His frown deepened and his brow furrowed./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Jack?" he called out./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The former Captain who was talking to a few of his teammates looked over and froze. He frowned for a few long seconds and then he began to walk over. "Doctor?" he asked. A smile began to creep across his features. The Doctor wanted to punch him, punch that smile off his face. How could he smile after what had happened here? But it wasn't Jack's fault. He didn't know. Though why he was here began to raise more questions in the Doctor's mind./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah," the Doctor forced himself to his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking to meet Jack in the middle of the room. Behind him, the others were watching them both curiously. Two of them were whispering to each other. The Doctor returned his attention to Jack who was still smiling at him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Long time," he remarked. "And you regenerated then?" He cast an appreciative look over the Doctor but the Doctor wasn't in the mood./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He smiled coolly back at Jack. "Yeah." He frowned and nodded at the others. "What are you doing here? Who are they?" he asked./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack glanced him. "My team. We're Torchwood Cardiff. We got a tip off about what Torchwood London were getting up to a few hours ago. We drove right over and saw the battle, well some of it." He put his hands in the pockets of his coat. "What happened, Doctor? I thought all the Daleks were destroyed."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor stared at him, horrified. "You're part of Torchwood? This dangerous, selfish organization that just put billions of lives at risk?! You're a part of that?" he snarled./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack straightened up, his muscles tensing in his neck. "Torchwood Cardiff has nothing to do with what Torchwood London gets up to." He countered in a hard voice. "The only thing we have in common is scavenging alien technology to arm the human race against the future. We investigate rift activity and try to save lives. We don't deal with massive scale activities unless they involve the Rift."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"One of the team, a man, stepped forward. "Which has happened once more than we'd like."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor's expression was still cold as he stared at Jack. "You expect me to believe you had no part in this?" Inside, he could feel his insides shaking with fury. The idea of Jack being connected to Torchwood made him feel ill inside. The fury of losing Rose to this organization burned fierce and bright inside his heart. "That you didn't know what Torchwood London was up to?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes, I didn't know anything" Jack fired back at him, his own temper rising./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""All right, Jack, calm down." A dark haired woman with a vaguely familiar face and a strong Welsh accent cut in, striding up next to Jack. "Who is this man? He's a Doctor?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack sighed, rolling his eyes. "He's the Doctor. He's… well he used to be a friend I travelled with back before he ditched me."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was the Doctor's turn to roll his eyes. "Oh don't start with that. You clearly did fine! You and your Torchwood," he added bitterly./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Fine?!" Jack repeated, incredulous fury in his voice. "Fine?" he argued. "Fine doesn't quite cut not being able to die, Doctor." The Doctor stiffened, still glaring at Jack. Jack's eyes were on him, narrowing as they scrutinized him. The former con man then laughed coldly. "Oh I see," he said, "you knew."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yes I did."The Doctor answered before he turned away from him and looked towards the rest of the team, the man from before with the shorter dark hair and an Asian woman who looked very familiar. The Doctor's face relaxed a little as he tried to place her. Yes, he'd definitely met her before. A while ago. Possibly in a different face. Oh! "I've met you before," he told her a little brightly. "Yes with the alien pig a year ago," he mused./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The woman frowned. "I don't think so."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh you wouldn't recognise me. I had a different face back then."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What?" the Welsh woman asked, her face scrunched up now in extra confusion. "What does that mean?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. Meanwhile Jack was glaring at him. The Doctor continued to look at the team. "Well yeah, I'm kind of an alien. When my body is dying, it goes through a process of change and I change my face." He said. "Last time we met I had a leather jacket, virtually no hair and big ears. Oh and I sounded Northern apparently."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Asian woman snapped her fingers. "Oh yes! That was you?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yep," the Doctor managed a smile./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh well, nice to meet you," she smiled, offering her hand. "Dr Toshiko Sato. But everyone calls me Tosh."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor smiled as he shook her hand. "Tosh. Lovely name."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""This is Owen, our medic," Tosh said gesturing to the other man in the team. Owen held out his hand as the Doctor shook it./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Dr Harper, but Owen's fine."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Okay then," the Doctor answered. "Good to meet you Owen."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Are you really an alien?" Owen asked as he released the Doctor's hand./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Last time I checked."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm Gwen, I'm the police liason," the Welsh woman introduced herself. The Doctor had just enough time to shake her hand before Jack lost patience and stepped in between them./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Enough with the introductions," he snapped. "How did you know? That I couldn't die."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor stepped back, his patience reaching its limits again. "I'm a Time Lord, Jack. I can tell when someone's a fixed point. I knew it as soon as Rose…" he trailed off. Rose. Rose would be another can of worms he would have to open./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Rose?" Jack repeated. "What's Rose got to do with it?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Jack-" Gwen began but Jack held up his hand./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor moved away from the former time agent with a sigh. "Rose took the Time Vortex into her head. No one's meant to have that power and she used it to defeat the Daleks and bring you back from the dead. But she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. The power was too much so I took it out of her. Hence this face," he explained bitterly./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""So she can't change me back?" Jack looked around and then back at the Doctor, the question the Doctor had been dreading dawning on his face. "Where is she anyway?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor didn't answer./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Okay enough strolling down memory lane," Owen interjected. "Would you mind just telling us what exactly has bee happening here? Where's Yvonne? Where is everyone? Do these Daleks and metal men leave bodies? Where is the Torchwood team?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor heaved a sigh and ran a hand over his face. All of the energy drained out of him and he looked down at the floor for a moment. "It's been a long afternoon…"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He perched on the edge of one of the Torchwood employees desks and began to speak. He told them about his arrival at Torchwood and how Yvonne had explained to him about their ghost shifts and that they had gone on to cancel one ghost shift to learn more. He explained about the Cybermen and how they had infiltrated Torchwood. As he went on to explain about the sphere, he felt his throat become scratchy, still raw from the screaming and his grief. But he kept talking. He told them about the Daleks and the battle that had commenced. He explained how he and Rose had sent them back into the Void. But Rose had been taken through too./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh god," Jack murmured as he sat on the edge of another desk./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm so sorry," Gwen said./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""That is seriously fucked up," Owen said. "All this time Yvonne was messing with our dimension. They certainly kept that quiet. Makes me wonder what sort of things the other Torchwoods are keeping."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""To be honest, I dread to think." Gwen said as she looked around. "Are any staff left in the building?" she asked the Doctor who shrugged. "I… I don't know. I don't know if anyone else survived the battle," his voice was so low and quiet that they could barely hear him. However Gwen didn't push the matter./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We can do a check," Owen said. "Tosh, do you want to check the Rift monitor and we'll do a sweep of the building." He said. Tosh nodded at him and he and Gwen left the room./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack lifted his gaze from the floor and looked over at Jack. "I'm sorry. Doctor."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah," the Doctor responded. "Me too." He sighed as he folded his arms. "It wasn't right, leaving you. But I'm a Time Lord, Jack. It's in my nature to run from a fixed point," he remarked. "I can't help it. It's in my DNA."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""So, what you're saying is," Jack mused, "you're prejudiced?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The Doctor managed a weak smile. "I never thought of it that way."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Shame on you," Jack murmured in a weak tease./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*******/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Rose woke up to the sound of whispering voices. She lifted her head and her vision began to focus in on what was in front of her. Two young women knelt in the grass a few feet away from her. Rose began to lift herself up onto her elbows, startled by their sudden proximity./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"One of the girls was watching her with her head slightly tilted and intensely curious golden eyes. Rose blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing things properly. Both the women were extremely brightly coloured. The girl with the tilted head had emerald skin with navy blue wavy hair that floated around her shoulders and face. Her expression grew warmer and friendlier as she watched Rose wake up. She wore a dark pink blouse along with what looked like navy tights. A silver belt hugged her waist. At this level Rose could see the insignia on it - an infinity sign with two smiling faces within it. The other girl was identically green only her hair was a vibrant red with alternating orange and yellow streaks. Her eyes were closer to amber than golden and framed with large blue lashes. She wore a pale orange waistcoat and a matching skirt. She wore a golden pendant around her neck./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hi," she greeted Rose with a bubbly wave. "You feeling okay?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah," Rose sat up fully with a groan. "I don't remember falling asleep," she said. She looked around herself. She was still in the long grassland. However the sky above her was baby pink and the violet clouds had disappeared. The planets in the sky were clearer than ever. Rose figured it must be day time then. She looked towards the girls. "Who are you?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm Elita," the redhead said, her eyes twinkling with brightness. "This is my cousin, Alora."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey," Alora answered in a more careful tone than her cousin. "Who are you?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm Rose," Rose looked around her again and then back at the girls. It began to sink in that she could understand them and she almost whooped out loud to think about that. That was one less problem to deal with, at least./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Rose, that's a nice name," Alora answered with a smile. She tilted her head again. "Where do you come from, Rose?" she asked. "You don't look familiar at all and I know a lot of people," she continued. She spread her legs out to the side and leaned back on her hands. Next to her Elita continued to sit on her knees, smiling more broadly./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I'm- I'm sort of new around here. I just… landed here. Um, sorry that sounds strange but… um…" Rose brought her knees up in front of her. "This is all really weird and it's hard to explain without sounding mad," she continued. "But I came through this… this thing… it was meant to be going to the Void but I came through here."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""The Void?" Elita repeated. "That sounds like a ghastly place, why would you want to go there?" she asked./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Well no, I wasn't trying to go there," Rose explained. "I was falling towards it. But I ended up here instead."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Through the Rift in time and space," Alora finished for her. Rose faltered. Alora began to smile more. "Yeah, sorry, but your predicament isn't exactly new to us. We get a fair few people coming through that thing. Humans, off-worlders. Well most anything really. They come through here and don't have a clue where they are."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We help them as much as we can but they come from all over," said Elita. "Sometimes we can't understand them. I mean we have two translators in our village but they don't know every language out there, you know?" She flopped sideways onto the grass and sprawled out, lightly kicking Alora as she did. "Nice to meet someone who can understand us," she added./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah me too," Rose said. "So, you said you try and help people?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alora nodded. "Yeah. We can take you to the village and someone can take you to Bluecairns, where our spaceport is," she explained. "But after that only you can get yourself back home."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Rose smiled, her heart leaping in delight. It was a lot to hope for, she knew, but it was also one step forward. "Thank you. That's enough."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"*******/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack watched the Doctor slowly pacing back and forth in front of the wall, sorrow in his own heart as he thought about Rose's demise. Kind, brilliantly funny, brave Rose Tyler. It was hard to think about the reality of knowing she was no longer out there, that she had joined the growing list of dead friends that Jack now had by this point in his life. He'd always hoped that he would run into her someday again and that they could travel together. Now that was not to be./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It was my fault, Jack," the Doctor declared for the fifth time in the last hour. "This was all my fault. I should have told Pete to restrain her, to make her stay in that parallel world."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Rose wouldn't have thanked you for that, Doctor," Jack pointed out. "It would have been like imprisoning her. Rose would never have stood for that. She would have tried to find you some other way. You know how stubborn she was. Look what happened last time you tried to send her away," he added. The Doctor tensed as though Jack had hit him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""At least she would have been alive to not thank me!" The Doctor stopped, throwing up his hands in the air. "She would have had that choice."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Forcing her somewhere she doesn't want to be is no choice at all," Jack countered. "Rose obviously knew she wouldn't be happy there. Doctor, Rose deserved to be happy."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah? You know what, Jack? Rose deserved to be alive!" the Doctor roared back at Jack, now facing him fully. "She deserved to live a full human life and thanks to me, she can't!" He stalked over to Jack and the Torchwood leader could see tears shining in his eyes. "I should have protected her. I failed her, Jack."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You didn't fail her." Jack attempted to console him but the Doctor was already turning away. Jack wished that he could say the right thing but he didn't think that was possible right now. If it would ever be possible in relation to Rose's death. He sat back on the desk, rubbing a hand down the side of his face./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Er, Jack?" Tosh suddenly spoke up from the empty office space in the back of the room, where Tosh had set herself up with her equipment. "You should come and see this."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What is it?" Jack asked tiredly. He turned to look at her, getting to his feet and walking over to her. "What's wrong now?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"She looked back at him, her dark eyes wide, her brow furrowed. "We had rift activity back in TARDIS just after we left," she began./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack sighed. "Great. That's all we need," he said. "We'll have to deal with that later. We can only be in one place at once," he pointed out./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No, Jack." Tosh said firmly. "That's not the issue. The rift energy sent a spike of power towards Torchwood Tower hours ago, at the time of the battle's end."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack frowned and crossed the remainder of the space between them. "Rift energy interfered with the Void hole collapsing?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Tosh nodded. "The Cybermen must have dismantled the CCTV but these readings indicate that the Rift energy presented itself up here on the top floor, hours ago. It only lasted for a second but it was there."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why would the Rift energy be drawn here?" Jack asked./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't know," Tosh admitted. "It is strange."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack looked towards the Doctor. "Doctor,"he called, "can you think of a reason why rift energy would be drawn to the Void collapsing?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The question, at least, seemed to have the effect of distracting the Doctor from pacing again. He looked over and his brows knotted together. "Rift energy and the Void?" he echoed, hurrying over towards Tosh's desk. "Show me," he said and Tosh turned her laptop around from where it was hooked into various monitors. He looked at the time of the spike and the energy readings. His face began to pale. "That was the moment," he murmured. "That was right when the last of the Cybermen and Daleks were pulled through…" he continued. "Right when Rose…" Once more he trailed off./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What could that mean?" Jack asked as an idea latched onto his mind./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I don't know. It could be one big blast of energy is attracted to another, like magnets," the Doctor mused. "Could be other reasons."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jack began to smile as his idea took full form. "If the Rift energy interfered with the Void hole," he said, "then isn't it possible that Rose travelled into the Rift instead of the Void?"/p 


	3. Chapter 3: Hollow Oak

After Rose had rested a little more, her new companions, Elita and Alora, insisted she accompany them to their town of Hollow Oak. To get there they walked for twenty minutes until they reached the edge of the forest. It was a short walk but Rose's legs were soon aching again but the cool morning air (or at least Rose assumed it was morning) helped a bit.

As she walked, she stared up at the forest. The trees were huge, some of them were at least twice the size of the ones on Earth. The tallest trees had leaves the size of canopies, hanging over their brethren and giving the woodland a gloomier look. The smells of blackberries and blueberries wafted at her from a light breeze. At the foot of some of the trees, hedges full of berries grew thick and plentiful. Rose's stomach rumbled involuntarily.

Elita grinned. "Glad I'm not the only one. We'll get something to eat when we get back to town," she assured Rose.

"We got a great pick this morning," Alora added with a serene smile.

Rose was about to ask what berries they had been picking but as they reached the end of the woodland, she saw it for herself. There, on the outskirts of the trees, sat a small, florally decorated carriage. There were two long emerald cushioned seats in the middle, a driver's bench and a small compartment in the back. Baskets of berries - strawberries, blackberries, raspberries as well as other unfamiliar looking ones - filled it.

"Lucky we decided to go for a stroll before going back," Alora chuckled as she climbed up into the driving seat. Elita and Rose climbed into the passenger area, taking opposing seats and securing the door behind them.

"Too right," Elita said. "This is a pretty exciting morning," she added as she beamed at Rose.

Rose's legs crumpled as soon as she was settled in the seat. Aches wafted through her and she leaned back into the cushioned seats gratefully. She reached up, rubbing at her eyes. She didn't know how long she'd slept for or really where she was. It occurred to her she'd gotten into a strange carriage with two strangers who sounded nice but could be luring her into trouble. Although she supposed the same could be said for them. They'd hardly asked her anything. Maybe it was a thing on this planet or something.

"So," Rose began, blinking rapidly to keep herself awake, "what planet is this?" She looked up in the sky where the other planets were clearly visible.

"This is Yaehiri," Alora called back.

"Yaehiri," Rose repeated, liking the sound of it already. It was a pretty name for this, frankly, gorgeous planet. If she hadn't felt so confused and tired, she might have taken more time to admire the striking colours of this strange new world.

"Where are you from?" Elita asked as she reclined in her own seat.

"Earth."

"Another one from Earth!" Elita declared. "We get a lot of you pure humans coming through. Maybe you guys need to be more careful, huh?"

"Elita!" Alora scolded.

"Sorry," Elita's cheeks flushed a darker green. "Just saying," she mumbled, reminding Rose of a scolded child.

"It's fine," Rose said tiredly. "To be honest, we probably should. I'm only here because of some stupid group messing with gaps in the universe."

"Really?!" Elita asked. "What were they doing that for?"

"Because they could and they were nosy," Rose said rubbing her head again. It was starting to throb. "These hostile aliens came through because of it. So many people died." There was a long silence and Rose leaned further back. Her eyes kept trying to close but she forced herself to say awake. She tried to refocus her attention on Elita who was staring at her with shocked, teary eyes.

"That's… I… I can't believe people could be so selfish."

"That's what happens when people mess with things beyond their control," Alora said in a firm but slightly sympathetic voice. "They endanger countless lives needlessly. This isn't the first story we've heard from travellers like you. Lots of people get caught in that kind of crossfire."

"Yeah," Elita agreed. She looked at Rose without speaking. "You should rest," she declared. "When we get to town, we'll get you a room at the inn."

Rose yawned. "Thanks," she spoke through it. "Sorry, it's been a long night."

"It's all right," Alora called back to her gently. "Try and get your head down. We'll wake you when we get here."

Another yawn took over Rose and she nodded, too tired to argue.

"Rose," Alora's voice whispered through the dreamless sleep Rose was in, "Rose, we're here."

Rose lifted her head and sat up. The carriage was rolling into a large, medieval-esq village with narrow wooden houses - many of which were at least three stories tall. Each house had a large garden in front of it, surrounded by attractively carved fences. The gardens bloomed with flowers of orange and gold. Some had rock pools, some had picnic benches and some had small wooden loveseats within them. In every garden there stood a great, thick tree as tall as the house with branches thick with leaves. Some of them had fruit peeking out of them. Rose could smell the fruits as they passed by. The houses were perfectly lined up with each other and there were many people already out in the gardens either sitting down with loved ones or tending to their shrubs and flower bushes.

"It's lovely," Rose said. Between the fruits and the flowers, Rose basked in the pleasant scents.

As the carriage rolled further up the road, Rose watched as the lines of houses changed into shops, taverns and other community buildings. She spotted what looked like a library and a church next to each other. Many young Yaehirians were sitting on the steps of the church reading. Through the gaps between buildings, Rose could see forest in the distance on one side of the village. On the other, she saw plains stretching far ahead into the magenta sky. She looked back at the village. Was this all one street?

"The inn is up ahead," Elita declared. "They'll take you in once we explain," she added.

Rose reached into her near-empty pockets. "I wish there was something I could give you," she said. She looked at the psychic paper that she'd stowed in there earlier. _Fat lot of good, you're going to do,_ she thought bitterly.

"Don't worry about it, Rose," Elita said, reaching over to touch Rose's hand. "We try and help all people who come here. There isn't a lot we can do other than giving them somewhere to rest and eat and show them how to get to the spaceport."

"Even so," Rose said. "Thank you."

The inn was just a little further up the road as Elita had said. It was one of the tallest buildings in the village, standing at least four stories tall. Its garden was the most impressive of all. A beautiful slate pathway wound its way around a small pond, several rose bushes, a couple of benches before it reached the steps of the porch. A few people were sitting out on the benches already, drinking glasses of pale green liquid. Several looked over as Alora pulled the horses to a stop in front of the gate.

The front door opened and a young golden haired girl stepped out. Like the rest of the village, her skin was emerald green though hers was also marked with blue patterns. She had blue streaks through her hair and her eyes were a light green. She wore an off the shoulder brown dress that fell to her knees and beige sandals. She leaned against the door frame and grinned over at Elita who practically leaped out of the carriage and started skipping up the garden path to go and greet her. The golden haired girl's arms extended and swept Elita into them as she placed a passionate kiss on her lips.

Alora shook her head as she climbed down, grinning. "You'd think they'd not seen each other for days," she remarked. "That's Mania, Elita's fiancee."

Rose grinned as she watched the young couple talk and hug. "It's sweet," she said. She looked to Alora. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"No," Alora smiled. "Not yet. I'm not really looking though," she said. She turned to Rose. "What about you? Have you got someone special to get back to?"

The question pinched Rose and she tried to keep a sincere smile on her face. "There's someone. I don't really know… I mean… I don't know if he feels the same. But I mean we're friends so, I need to get back to him anyway."

Alora nodded. "Of course. Well I hope you figure it out someday. We all deserve to be happy. Tomorrow Elita and Manaia will be the happiest people in all of Yaehiri," she said.

"How come?" Rose couldn't help her curiosity.

"They're getting married tomorrow," Alora smiled. "It's going to be a wonderful day."

"That's fab," Rose said.

After a couple of minutes, Elita returned to them, bringing Manaia with her.

"Mana, this is Rose," she beamed.

Rose held out a hand. "Great to meet you."

"And you!" Manaia cheerfully shook her hand. "So Lia tells me you came through the Rift. Earth, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"That's rough. Earth is such a distance away. But it'll be okay," Manaia remarked. "We'll do what we can."

"Thank you," Rose said.

Manaia looked over her with a scrutinizing gaze. "Let me show you to your room. You don't have any issue with heights right?"

"No," Rose eyed the top floor, trying not to let the unease show on her face at the thought of sleeping on the top floor of a wooden building. "I'm fine with them." The height was nothing compared to Torchwood Tower but it brought it back all the same. Being in that room, flying towards the Void space. She forced the memory back and smiled.

"Great," Manaia said. "All our other rooms are booked. A lot of family are staying over here before the wedding tomorrow," she said.

"I heard about that. Congratulations," Rose told her and Elita who blushed and beamed.

"Aww thank you!" Elita declared.

"Yes, thank you," Manaia smiled. "You're more than welcome to attend, by the way," she added with a slightly mischievous glint in her eye.

"Oh yes," Elita beamed in agreement. "That'd be great."

"They say it's good luck to have a stranger at a wedding." Manaia remarked.

"They do?" Rose asked.

"Oh yes," Alora agreed with a slight grin.

Despite the height, Rose found the room very cozy. It was basic with just a bed, a wardrobe and a small desk. But Rose had no objections to any of that as she pulled off her shoes and climbed beneath the covers. She was asleep before her head had fully sunk onto the pillow.

When she woke up five hours later, the sky outside was a pale-ish pink and a sparkling dust shimmered through the crowds. Rose lay in bed, watching it as she fully awakened. Her stomach growled, reminding her of how long it had been since she'd actually eaten something. She forced herself into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes. From somewhere to her left, the smell of grapes and cheese reached her nose. She turned her head. There, on the bedside table, was a pile of cheese sandwiches and a cluster of grapes as well as a jug of water.

Rose polished off the meal faster than she would care to admit to, which is why it wasn't that long before she spotted the envelope half obscured by the plate. She opened it, half fearing that it was going to be some un-translatable writing. She was grateful to see English words on the page.

**Rose,**

**If you like, I'll show you around town, once you've rested. I hope you like the food. If not Mana says she's happy to make you something else. I'll stop by the inn later. We can go and talk to the Sheriff. She knows a lot about the spaceport and she might be able to help you.**

Rose smiled at the letter. Elita was so sweet. In fact, all the Yaehirians she'd met had been very kind. Rose would love to see more of this planet one day. If it wasn't for this present predicament, she'd have asked to stay longer. But she needed to set off as soon as she could. If Earth was that far away then she had a long journey ahead of her. But in any other situation, she'd be here with the Doctor. Maybe she could convince the Doctor to bring her back here. That's if she managed to find him again. _Nope,_ Rose thought to herself. _I am going to find him again_. It'd be great to visit Elita, Alora and Manaia again.

Downstairs, Rose followed the staircase into a firelit lounge. There were lots of squishy chairs and tiny wooden tables. A lot of guests were sat together, whispering. As Rose descended, they turned to look at her. Rose could feel their curiosity with every step she took. As she stepped off the staircase, she looked about the room then made for the hall.

Manaia was stood behind a reception desk, laughing and playing with Elita's hair who was chattering excitedly about something. Her eyes twinkled with delight as she animatedly told some kind of story. Manaia was watching her with a contended, bemused smile. Rose watched the pair of them as they approached. They seemed to balance each other out. Manaia seemed to be the calm to Elita's excitement. Rose slowed her approach, not wanting to interrupt the story if she could.

However Rose wasn't entirely successful. Manaia was the first to spot Rose, while listening to the story. She gave her a welcoming smile and then nudged Elita who turned around so fast that Rose was sure she almost gave herself whiplash. If Yaehirians could get whiplash that is. She clapped her hands once and her smile softened sweetly. "Rose! Good timing, I just got here," Elita greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. I slept good, thanks." Rose said. "Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt." Elita flapped her hands as if it didn't matter.

Manaia didn't seem to object either. She looked down at the tray that Rose was carrying. "Were the sandwiches to your taste?"

"They were great, thank you," Rose assured her as the other girl took the tray away and put it to one side. "I can't remember the last time I ate."

Manaia looked mildly concerned. Elita, who had changed into a red blouse and skirt, took Rose's arm. "So, do you want to see the town? The market's staying open late tonight and the planets are so bright."

Rose smiled at her. "Yeah, that sounds fun."

"Don't go dragging her around every stall," Manaia cautioned affectionately.

"As if I would," Elita protested.

"Lies," Manaia grinned. "Try not to exhaust our guest. Especially if she's going to attend our wedding tomorrow. I need you there bright and early," she added.

Elita's smile was softer as she nodded. "Don't worry. I'll be there. I've been waiting my whole life to marry you."

"How long have you and Manaia been together?" Rose asked as she and Elita left the inn behind and began walking further up the road through town. The sparkling dust in the sky was shining brighter and brighter. The planets were clearer than they were before, so clear that they looked as though they might be coming closer. Rose kept looking up at the sky every so often as she walked. When she glanced back at Elita, she was surprised to see her new friend wearing a serene smile.

"About five years," Elita answered.

"Wow," Rose said. "How did you meet?"

"I almost died," Elita admitted. "Before I met her, I was always going to the tavern or to the inn and drinking a lot."

"How come?" Rose asked, sliding her hands into her pocket and trying to hide her surprise. Elita really didn't look like the type of person to over-the-top party. That was something along the lines of what Rose and her mate Shareen had done back in the day. Shareen… Rose thought. There was someone she hadn't thought of back home. She hadn't spoken to her in such a long time.

"How… come?" Elita repeated.

Rose smiled, embarrassed. "It means why? It's just… something we say back home."

"Oh," Elita giggled. "That's a funny way of asking why but okay," she said. Her expression soon became serious again. "I was kind of out of control back then. I was selfish, I didn't want any responsibility and I just wanted to have fun. I did the barest amount of work I could get away with. Just enough to fund my evenings out."

Rose laughed a little. She simply couldn't help it. "I think a lot of people do that. Especially younger ones. How old are you?"

"36," Elita said.

"What?!"

Elita smiled. "Ah yes. I forgot to say. A lot of humans are surprised, whenever I tell them my age. Apparently your kind tend to live to about 80 years?"

"Give or take a few decades," Rose said.

Elita's smile was grim. "I see. Well our lifespans are considerably longer. The average Yaehirian can live up until 150 if they take care of themselves," she said, "sometimes 200. But I don't know anyone in Hollow Oak who has lived that long."

"Really?" Rose asked and whistled. "So then you're basically a teenager," she mused, "by Earth standards," she added. She nudged Elita. "A lot of teenagers back on Earth do that, you know? All that stuff you were saying."

Elita frowned. "I bet they don't drink as much as I was though. I was drinking so much. I kept making an idiot of myself."

"We've all done it," Rose tried to reassure her. "And you'd be surprised." She tucked some hair behind her ear. "How much were you drinking?"

"As much as I could, three or four nights a week." Elita answered. She saw Rose grimace. "Exactly." She folded her arms. "Everyone kept warning me about my drinking but I was so sure that I knew best. Then Manaia moved here and she recognised my problem straight away. Of course, like with everyone else, I told her to shove off. But one night I pushed things too far. I got so drunk that I collapsed. Manaia saved my life and did what she could for me until the medics got there." Elita began to smile again, a slow soft one. "She was there for me every step afterward. So many people were. I was lucky. It was a wake up call and I decided to stop." She stopped in the street. "It's been hard and I've slipped up a few times but… I'm getting better. I try not to drink if I can help it. I'm gonna stick to two glasses of champagne tomorrow. One for while I'm getting ready and the other for toasting my beautiful, brilliant wife."

Rose smiled at her. She would never have guessed that Elita had a story like that with her cheerful demeanour. It was amazing what you could learn about people.

"Sorry," Elita suddenly said, her cheeks darkening. "I don't even know why I told you that story." She side-eyed Rose. "You are really easy to talk to," she mused.

"Thanks," Rose said. "At least this means one more person looking out for you tomorrow," she said.

Elita blinked. "Yeah? You'd do that."

"Yeah. You were brave enough to stop drinking too much and, well, you've done a lot for me."

"Thank you," Elita said emotionally. She began walking again. "The Sheriff's place is just up here," she said gesturing to one of the buildings ahead of them.

The Sheriff's office was a three story building. The windows on the top two floors were very small compared to the ones on the ground floor. Curtains had been drawn and there was a closed sign dangling on the doorway, still swaying as Elita and Rose arrived. "Dang it," Elita murmured. "Must have just missed her," she said. She looked up and down the street and then back at Rose. "She'll be coming tomorrow so you can see her then."

"Sounds good."

"_After_ my wedding of course," Elita added with a wink.

Rose laughed and so they continued their tour of the town. There wasn't much else to see other than other community buildings like the school and a rather impressive community garden. It reminded Rose of the inn's garden but on a much bigger scale. There were more secluded places for people to chat, sheltered by enormous trees. The flower bushes here ranged in colours from orange to purple to blue and ivory. Around the park were various statues of a farmer, a sheriff, a family of four, and what looked like a unicorn.

The time flew past as Elita talked Rose through some of the village's history. Many of the village's ancestors had come through the Rift themselves. They'd worked with arrivals from foreign planets to build the communities they had today. She confirmed that they'd been able to live in peace for so many years because they had the protection of the Shadow Proclamation and Yaehiri was considered a planet of special importance. Elita confirmed that she didn't know why Yaehiri was chosen but it is a decision that has helped them to live a good life. By the time Elita was finished showing Rose around, the sky was darkening again.

Rose was stifling yawns again as she and Elita returned to the inn.

"Thanks," she told Elita as they climbed the steps to the porch. "You know, for everything. I don't know how I would have managed without your help."

Elita pulled her into a hug. "You don't have to worry about that. I'm gonna do what it takes to get you home, okay?"


	4. Chapter 4: Time Raiders

The Doctor and Jack took the TARDIS over to Cardiff, timing it so they arrived just as the rest of the Torchwood team were arriving in the SUV. While the rest of the team headed through the reception of the tourist shop, Jack insisted on the Doctor following him through the 'visitor's entrance'. He led the Time Lord around to the step in front of the Roald Dahl Plass. The Time Lord, who had barely spoken on the way over here, gave the monument a brief once over with his eyes and then looked at Jack.

"_This_ is your base?"

Jack smiled over at him. It didn't quite meet his eyes though. Not with the news the Doctor had given him. Jack would give anything for Rose to be okay, for the theory of the Rift energy to be the truth about what had happened to Rose, for her not to be another person who had died because of Torchwood. "Yeah," he said as he stepped onto the step.

The Doctor looked at him, his gaze focusing more intently. He began to smile. "Perception filter, nice."

Jack gestured to his side. "Come and meet my Torchwood," he declared. The Doctor stepped up next to him and Jack activated something on his Vortex Manipulator. "Okay, here we go." The step beneath them began to move and the city of Cardiff began to slowly rise out of sight, replaced by underground foundations and a damp smell. Jack turned and felt the Doctor do the same. The Torchwood hub came into view below them. Jack eyed the Doctor who was staring around at it all with a reluctant smile on his face.

"Now _this_ is a secret base," he remarked.

Jack looked a little to the side. "Duck," he said. As they both knelt down, Myfanwy the pteradactyl swooped over their heads, flying around the base in a perfect arc.

"You've got a pteradactyl?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep."

"In your base?"

"Yep. Couldn't find a way to send her back. Got attached," Jack said.

The Doctor looked at Jack, expressionless for a second, before he began to grin. "Brilliant! That is so brilliant!" Much like Jack's, the smile didn't quite meet his eyes.

The lift finally brought them down onto a platform. They stepped off and Jack led him up to the computer consoles where Tosh was already looking up the CCTV in Torchwood One's top floor. As they arrived, she was watching the footage of the Doctor and Rose hanging onto the levers.

"Some of the CCTV was dismantled, the larger cameras anyway," Tosh was explaining. "However Torchwood One had smaller ones built into the wall. Much more subtle. We should be able to see if the Rift energy presented itself in the Void hole."

Jack nodded and then immediately focused in on Rose on the CCTV. It had been so long since he'd last seen her. She looked older, stronger and more beautiful than she had on the Game Station, like she'd grown into who she was, who she was meant to be. He watched as Rose's lever began to drop. Oh god, he thought. It was like one of those movies where you knew in your gut that something terrible was about to happen. A moment where you shouted at the screen, telling the person not to do what they were going to do. He wished he could do that for Rose but he couldn't.

True enough Rose fell off the clamp trying to grab the lever and so ended up clinging to the lever instead. Jack watched her rise off the ground, lifted by the force of the Void.

"Holy shit," Owen said from behind them.

One by one, Rose's fingers lost their grip on the lever.

"I don't think I can watch this," Gwen muttered but she stayed where she was, as if frozen there. Kind of like the way some people couldn't look away from a car crash.

"Two seconds until Rift spike," Tosh murmured.

Two seconds passed and Rose lost her hold on the lever. She flew backwards towards the Void, screaming all the way. The whiteness of the Void energy seemed to glow brighter, as if preparing to embrace her. Rose flew into it. There was a brief flicker of blue and the Void energy collapsed on itself, vanishing into nothingness.

Everything was silent. Jack stood, as stiff as a board, staring at the frozen screen where Tosh had paused it. "Rewind, Tosh," he managed to croak. "Pause it a few seconds ago."

Tosh did so. Rose was frozen on the screen, disappearing into the Void energy. There was no mistaking it. She'd gone into the Void by the time the Rift energy appeared. The chances were just too slim. The Void had already taken a hold of Rose.

Jack turned away from the image and looked at the Doctor. His expression was equally grim.

"She's gone," he said. "The Rift spike came too late."

That night, as she lay back in the inn's top bedroom, Rose's mind delved six months into the past.

_Rose and the Doctor stood outside the TARDIS on a rocky ledge. The ledge overlooked the city of Estilpher, a colony of aliens that had set up in the heart of the Ilarian mountain range, a circle of rust coloured mountains, reaching up into a treacherous red sky. The rest of the planet, Nantes, was occupied by human colonies that had been here since the 37th century. It was now the 60th and an expedition of Hath had come here to make their home, after escaping war with Cybermen on another world. Rose and the Doctor had helped them with a couple of rogue Cybermen that had stowed away on board the Hath's ship. The humans had promised the base some assistance was en route._

_Both Rose and the Doctor stood, catching their breath as they watched several white shuttles descend from the murky brown clouds above the mountains._

"_About time," Rose said. "Shame they couldn't be there two hours ago."_

_The Doctor smiled at her. "Yeah but we did okay, didn't we? We stopped the Cybermen. The Hath are safe."_

"_Yeah," Rose smiled up at him. His hand reached for hers and she took it, her fingers interlocking with his naturally. "Yeah we did good," she agreed._

_They watched the first of the shuttles lower down towards the city. Suddenly a voice called out, magnified by a tannoy._

"_Estilpher, you are charged with treason against the colonies of Nantes," the voice boomed out._

"_What?" the Doctor murmured._

"_You have failed to declare yourselves as citizens of Nantes and have disguised yourselves as one of our own colonies. This makes you guilty of espionage. We have also been alerted to the cargo of Cybermen that arrived on your vessel. You have been identified as a threat against the human race."_

_Rose's stomach plummeted. "But the Hath didn't know about that. What's all this espionage nonsense?"_

"_The Hath didn't tell the humans they were here," the Doctor murmured. "They only reported themselves when they were in danger. The humans must think they brought the Cybermen and it backfired on the Hath…"_

"_Your colony and your secrecy poses a threat to the citizens of this planet. Therefore, for the safety of the planet, you have been sentenced to extermination."_

_Rose's insides coiled so much that they felt solid. The word extermination always brought to mind, the Daleks, and how they killed anything that wasn't Dalek, anything that was different. It also brought to mind the incidents in human history where they had tried to kill off the weak or different. The Holocaust being one of them. As she listened to the tannoy, she felt bile creeping up her throat. This was humans condemning the Hath in a similar way. Why couldn't they go down and learn what had happened? Get all the facts._

"_No," she murmured._

"_NO!" the Doctor roared. "Leave them alone!" His voice, loud and strong, echoed around the mountains._

_It wasn't enough. The three shuttles' engines began to whir noisily, lights began to build in two canons that were strapped to their sides._

"_No, no, no, oh god." Rose took a step back. She didn't want to watch but she couldn't look away. Her eyes were fixed on the colony, on the place where they had celebrated their survival with their new Hath friends. "No, we- we can't let them." Rose felt the Doctor move his arm around her, pulling her against him. In the next second, he'd moved in front of Rose as the shrieking sounds of simultaneous blasts were released and almighty explosions hit Rose's eardrums. "No!" Rose shouted, her cry muffled against the Doctor's chest, his warm brown suit. His arms tightened around her. Tears leaped down her cheeks as sobs shook her chest. "Oh my god," she whispered through the tears. "How could they do that? How could they?"_

_The Doctor's hands rubbed Rose's back over and over. "They didn't want to listen. They didn't want to give them a chance. They come out into space and they start laying down the law and woe betide anyone who crosses them." The Doctor remarked darkly. He kissed Rose's head and hugged her tighter. He said nothing more for a little while and Rose was glad of it. He couldn't say everything would be okay and all those other comforting things because they just weren't true. How could anything be okay after seeing that?_

_They held onto each other for what felt like hours until Rose pulled away and finally brought herself to look at the wreckage of Estilpher, at the smoking circle that was their new friends, the fantastic laboratory they'd set up and their homes. Their new homes. Their promise of a fresh start away from the war. Humans had ruined that._

"_It's disgusting," she said as she stepped closer to the edge of the ledge. "What they did to them, what humans did… that was despicable."_

"_It was." The Doctor agreed quietly._

"_Makes you wonder what the point of saving us is," Rose mused sadly, "when even forty centuries on we are still doing stuff like this. It's like we don't learn at all. We just start hurting other races instead," she said as she wiped at her eyes. "We go out into space and what do we do? Lay down the law, as you said."_

"_Hey," the Doctor's voice was gentle. He came up behind Rose and pulled her back towards him. "Not all humans are like that," he spoke in her ear. "Most humans are wonderful and brilliant and kind," he said. "It's just some groups like these who hurt people."_

_Rose shook her head. "It's inherent in all of us otherwise we'd have killed it centuries ago."_

_The Doctor's arms wrapped around her. "Everyone has good and bad inside of them. Everyone has a choice over how to behave. Not everyone is like them, Rose. These human colonies that killed the Hath… there'll be colonies out there fighting for them. Like you, today. You were trying to keep as many Hath alive as you could. You're a good human, Rose. You're nothing like those monsters."_

_Rose turned to him and shook her head. "I'm not good, Doctor. Right now, I'm feeling pretty vengeful. Those humans deserve to suffer for what they did today."_

"_Rose, listen to me," the Doctor told her. "You are better than them. If you take revenge, you sink to their level."_

"_They need to be punished," Rose told him. "They don't deserve to get away with this mass murder."_

"_I'm so sorry, Rose. But they already have. This was sanctioned by the human colonies. There's nothing we can do." The Doctor reached up and cupped Rose's cheek with his hand. "I wish we could do something. Believe me, I do. But we can't cross our own timeline. It'll cause more trouble and it won't save them."_

"_The Reapers," Rose recalled._

"_Exactly," the Doctor said. "But there's more to humanity than just this cruelty. You know that…" he said as he stroked her cheek. "I'm sorry you had to see that." He pulled her into a hug and Rose didn't fight it. "But you are a good person, Rose. You're just hurting and many of the worst things are committed when people are hurting."_

The Doctor turned away from the screen. His body was taut and there was a heaviness in his shoulders. Tosh looked back at Jack. He nodded at her and she turned the machine off. She turned around to face the other members of the team.

"It's not impossible," Gwen said in her hopeful voice. "I mean it's still possible isn't it?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Not really. Once she was in the Void, that would have been it for her. She taken before the Rift energy could touch her. Besides," he said bitterly, "we don't know where the Rift energy would have taken her."

"Lots of people have disappeared in the Rift," Jack admitted. The rest of his team looked at him.

"What?" Gwen asked. "The Rift takes people as well?"

Jack swallowed. He thought about the base on the island and all the tormented survivors that were trying to build their lives there. How he'd kept that secret for so long. But in the wake of this… of what the Doctor was saying, he couldn't exactly hide this anymore. If anything, this would be enough to get his team digging and short of retconning them all, there wasn't much Jack could do to stop this coming out. "Yes. I've been investigating this for a while. Sometimes the Rift brings those people back. But… they're changed."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"Some of them have aged. Some of them have experienced horrible things. Most of them come back too scarred to return to their old lives. I've set up a base on Flat Holm island to house them. None of them are in a fit state to return to their families and honestly, the truth would be too much for those they left behind."

"But those people back home are missing them, Jack!" Gwen protested. "They're spending so much time grieving or stressing themselves out not knowing."

"Gwen, those people wouldn't be any happier, knowing the truth. Knowing how much their loved ones have been destroyed by the Rift. Not only that but explaining the Rift to them would unleash mass panic. It would break Torchwood's secrecy and compromise us for the future."

Gwen opened her mouth to protest again but Owen nudged her. Jack turned back towards the Doctor who was staring coldly at him.

"Nothing like Torchwood One, huh?"

Everything was toasty warm when Rose's eyes opened. She smiled as she slowly emerged from her slumber. Echoes of the memory floated around her head, filling her chest with a painful longing momentarily before the images disappeared. Waves and waves of heat continued to hit her. It took her a good number of seconds before she wondered if that was normal. She looked towards the bedroom door as she rubbed her face.

Smoke was billowing under the door.

Rose's attention sharpened immediately and she wriggled and kicked her way out of the bed, moving as far away from the smoke as she could get. The smoke hadn't yet fully permeated the room but it was working its way there quickly. Rose was reminded, with a sinking feeling of sickness in her stomach, that this building was made of wood. Shit.

She turned towards the window. It was her only source of escape. But she was on the top floor. Aggravated, she remembered Manaia asking if she was okay with being on this floor. Well, she was not okay with it now. How had the fire even started? _Worry about that later_, Rose urged herself, _focus on getting down to the groun_d. Rose pushed the window open all the way and her knees buckled when she looked out.

Dozens of the building on Hollow Oak were on fire. The blaze was spreading around the entire village. Yaehirians were screaming and racing through the street, gathering their loved ones and getting as far from the fire as they could. Children were crying and screeching. Out of lower windows, people were passing younger ones out or tossing them onto blankets, held by groups of determined looking villagers. Some people were throwing buckets of water at the fire. Some others had managed to get hold of a hose. At the other end of the street, more people were screaming. Rose leaned out of the window but she couldn't see what else might be causing the louder screams.

She looked down at the lower areas of the building. There were dormer windows positioned at different levels of the roof. One of them was directly under Rose and it protruded out just enough for her to land on it if she was careful enough. Below that, at a diagonal angle, was a balcony. Maybe from the dormer window, she could jump to that. It was as good a start as any. Rose looked back at her bedroom door. Was everyone on the lower floors okay? Could they even get out of their rooms.

Following her gut instincts, Rose rushed over to the door, covering her mouth with one hand. She opened the door and cried out at the blistering heat that greeted her hand. As the door swung open, flames as tall as Rose greeted her and a wall of smoke rushed at her, forcing her backwards into the room. She could see very little behind the wall of flames, not where it had originated from or whether it was travelling downstairs. She couldn't rush through it without going for her death. Darting back from the smoke and coughing heavily, Rose returned to the window. She inhaled large gulpfuls of fresh air though she could still taste the burning smell in it, before climbing onto the sill, her legs dangling.

_Here goes._

Rose let herself drop. The sensation sent her stomach flipping. The feeling flew through her chest and into her throat as she fell.

She landed on the dormer window, one leg on either side. The air down here was not quite as hot. Rose swung one leg over to the other side and looked towards the balcony nearby. Positioning herself into a preparatory spring stance, Rose looked down at the ground. Many people were fleeing the building. Good, Rose thought, I hope that's everyone. With that thought, she leaped over, just about clearing the railing except for her foot which brought her down into a painful landing on her side and shoulder. Massive pain shot through her arm and Rose's vision swam for a moment as she struggled to get her bearings.

"Manaia!" She heard Elita scream. The sound brought Rose back to focus and she scrambled to her feet.

"Elita!" Manaia was screaming back.

Rose closed her eyes, grateful that they were both okay. She hoped Alora was, wherever she was. Turning her attention back to her own predicament, Rose looked out over the balcony. The roof of the wraparound porch was under her. If she could land on that and try and slow her fall, she could maybe make it to the ground unscathed. She took a deep breath and positioned herself on the edge of the railings. Pushing off a little, Rose dropped again.

She landed hard on the sloped roof and skidded down it, faster and faster towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Rose!" She heard Elita cry out as the ground rushed up towards her.

As the last of the roof met her, Rose pushed off into a jump. She tucked her knees up as she reached the ground, hitting it and rolling over and over across the garden. With a splash, she tumbled into the pond. The cool water was a welcome touch to the heat around her.

The two men sat in Jack's office with only silence filling the air between them. A bottle of whiskey stood half full between them on the desk. Jack nursed his glass, staring into space. The Doctor was slumped in his seat, draining the last of his glass. He poured himself another.

Jack watched him without comment. He had never seen his friend like this before. In all the time they'd known each other, they had seen some pretty depressing things. They had fought injustice and they hadn't always won. But the Doctor had bounced back eventually. They all had. Jack had never seen the Doctor drink a great deal. In fact, he wasn't sure if he ever had seen him drink. People had served him alcohol but he had barely touched the glass. Now, he was on his fourth whiskey and he was not slowing down in drinking that one too. Jack let him be. He wasn't in a rush to ease up on the whiskey himself after watching Rose fly into the Void.

The silence had been going on for about an hour.

"I wish you hadn't given me hope, Jack," the Doctor's tone was bitter as he looked into his glass. "I was already grieving for her. I'd already lost the hope."

"We had to pursue it, to see if there was a chance," Jack answered quietly.

"You didn't have to tell me about it," said the Doctor. "You could have checked it out for yourself first before telling me."

Jack pursed his lips. It was hard to ignore that kind of logic. It had been unintentional but he'd waved hope in front of his friend and CCTV had snatched it away again. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," the Doctor said. He finished his glass and stood up from his chair. "Time for me to go."

Jack straightened up in his seat. "You're more than welcome to stay."

"No," the Doctor's voice was cool. "I can't be in Torchwood right now no matter whose it is. If I stay, I'll just do something you'll regret."

Jack stood up. "Doctor…"

"Goodbye Jack," the Doctor said and headed for the door. Once he was there, with a hand on the handle, he stopped and looked at him. "You need to make this better. You need to make Torchwood better." He disappeared through the door, leaving Jack alone in the silence with the bottle of whiskey.

The Doctor found the TARDIS undisturbed where he'd left it, outside the monument.

As soon as he stepped inside, he closed the door and leaned against it. The TARDIS rumbled quietly in greeting and the Doctor inhaled hard, covering his mouth with his hand. He stayed like that for several minutes, just breathing in and trying not to let the tears fall.

"She's gone," he spoke to the empty room, to the life beyond the walls of the console room, "Rose Tyler is dead."

Rose scrambled into a sitting position as Elita and Manaia hurried over to her. Manaia pulled her up and into a hug.

"Thank the heavens…" she whispered as Rose returned the hug. "I am so sorry, so sorry, for putting you in that room!"

"This wasn't your fault, was it?" Rose pulled back and held Manaia's shoulders. "I'm fine. But what happened? What started the fire?"

Elita was backing away, her face a portrait of panic. "T-them…"

Rose turned around. More villagers were running up from the other side of the road. Rose walked forwards to see what they were running from. She could hear blaster fire and screams being cut off. Still, her legs kept moving. She reached the middle of the road and she saw the culprits.

There looked to be about a hundred of them, dressed all in teal armour. Many of them were carrying flamethrowers, blasting the town with them, taking no care to spare anyone in their path. Buildings burst into great infernos and Yaehirians were swallowed up in flames as they fell into the path of the weapons. They marched through the village. Those that didn't carry flamethrowers were grabbing people and scanning them with a strange device. The strangers didn't wear helmets so it was pretty easy for Rose to see that they were human. She felt sick as she watched her own kind destroy this Yaehiri village.

"Why are they doing this?" Manaia growled though her voice shook with fear as she watched the strangers toss more of their people aside, "What are they looking for?"

"I don't know," Rose said as she looked back at the invaders. "I don't know them."

"We've got to run," Elita said as she grabbed at both Manaia and Rose's arms. "We don't have weapons like that. We've got to get everyone out of the village." The teal soldiers were now crowding further up the street. Several lights flashed over them, reminding Rose of lasers in those toys for cats and dogs, only green. It passed over Rose and the others.

"Go," Rose said, her gut forcing her forwards. She took steps towards the teal army. "Go. I'll try and stall them."

"No!" Manaia yanked at Rose's arm. "They'll murder you."

"Maybe not. I'm human, I can buy you some time," Rose prised Manaia's hand off her arm. "Take Elita and go."

Elita shook her head as vigorously as Manaia was doing. "We're not leaving you, Rose-"

Suddenly her words cut off in a scream. A teal clad woman with tightly bound blue hair had come up behind her. A metallic device fastened with a clasp, securing Elita's elbows to her sides and her hands to her chest. Manaia turned instinctively but a dark haired, Asian male was already securing a similar restraint on hers. She thrashed but the restraint was solid. The male soldier pulled her back.

"OI! Let 'em go!" Rose roared. As she rushed forward, two more soldiers walked around them, approaching Rose. Rose caught herself and staggered backwards out of their reach. She glanced down and saw green lights poking at her stomach and chest. Turning around, she saw the mass of teal soldiers heading her way now.

At the forefront of them was a woman with silver hair that was tucked neatly behind her ears. She wore a circlet around her forehead, silver with a jade positioned in the foremost central area of it. She carried one of the strange light devices, with the green light pointed directly at Rose's heart. She was also carrying a flamethrower though it dangled from a weapons belt, deactivated. Rose wondered how long it would be until she was firing on the people as well. However, for the moment, her attention was on Rose as she approached.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this? These people are peaceful you fucking monsters!" Rose screamed.

The woman smiled a little as she slowed to a stop once she was near Rose. "Feisty, just as he promised." She ignored Rose's question as she looked her up and down. "Not what I was expecting at all. How interesting."

Rose's chest was rising and falling heavier than ever as the rage burned through her. "Who do you think you are?" If this woman could play the ignore game, so could Rose.

"I am Mademoiselle Carmen de la Runa," the woman introduced herself, "Captain of the Grey Brigade." She stepped forward, further towards Rose. Her colleagues remained where they were. "I am very happy to see you, girl. You've eluded my client for quite some time now."

"What the hell is the Grey Brigade?" Rose spat, as she took a careful step back and away from the soldiers behind her. Carmen continued to smile at her. It was Elita who answered, her voice shaking as she did.

"Thugs, Rose. They're interplanetary thugs."

Carmen looked towards them. The guards holding Elita and Manaia, simultaneously brought out silver truncheon-looking instruments and touched them to the girls' sides. Both of them shouted in agony and stumbled where they stood. Rose whirled back round on Carmen.

"Leave them alone now," she growled. "Leave this planet and get lost."

Carmen laughed. An appreciative chuckle ran around the soldiers too. "Brave. Very brave. My client will be very pleased." She looked over Rose again. "Very pleased."

"What does your client want with me? Who is he?" Rose fired back. "Sounds like you've got the wrong person."

"Oh no, we've got the right person. Rose Tyler, traveler in space and time," Carmen said. She folded her arms. "It's always tricky trying to track someone like you down. But you travelling through the Medusa Cascade served our purposes very nicely."

"The Medusa Cascade?"

"The rift in time and space," Elita reminded her.

"Yes, you showed up on our radar. My client has been most impatient to find you." Carmen said.

Rose tried to keep her face expressionless. So this client wanted to see her, did he? It was hardly the first time that someone had tried to kidnap her and take her to some crazy dictator or gangster boss. That had been the equivalent of an ordinary Wednesday back during her travels with the Doctor. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart and the whirling thoughts in her mind. What was going to happen to her? _No_, Rose thought as she looked towards Elita and Manaia, around the village where dozens of Yaehirians lay dead because of this brigade, _what's going to happen to them?_

"If you wanted me all this time," Rose said, her voice shaking slightly despite her best efforts, "then why have you attacked these people? These mean you no harm. They've done nothing to deserve this."

"There, I'm afraid, we disagree," Carmen said. "This town is guilty of harbouring you and they knew that."

"… what?"

Carmen looked over towards Elita and Manaia. "This galaxy has been given information on you. All civilisations were ordered to report sightings of you to our headquarters. You've been here for about a day and our people had no messages from Bluecairns. No one here made the call to turn you in. If our officers hadn't picked up on the Rift activity ourselves by chance then we would never have known you were here. Your brave friends were covering for you."

Rose looked over at them, flooded with feelings of gratitude and fear. They had barely known her and yet they had stood up to these jackals for her. Both girls were scowling at Carmen, defiance and spite shining in their faces. The truth sank into Rose's chest. "That's why you were going to get me out of here quickly."

Elita nodded. "We would never hand you over to these monsters."

"That makes you and all of your village traitors," Carmen replied. She held up her hand and gestured around them. "All this is because you wouldn't assist with the investigation. The lives of those who die today do not lie at my door, but at yours. You have cost your village many lives in exchange for one."

"It was not just us," Manaia said. "No one here was willing to sacrifice Rose."

"The responsibility still lies on you. It was your fiancee and her cousin who found the human, was it not?"

_How can she possibly know that_? Rose stared at the brigade. She recalled seeing the soldiers grab civilians and hold them close. She thought it was just them being scanned but maybe they were also being questioned. Maybe they'd threatened or bullied the answers out of them. Maybe that's why some of them had been left alive. Take the truth out of them and then allow them to live with the consequences of their honesty. It was a ruthless and bonechilling move.

"You're disgusting," Rose spat at Carmen. "You guys chose to open fire on these people. That's on you, not on them."

"We did what was right," Manaia said, trembling in her restraints. "I'll go to my death knowing that."

"Me too," Elita added.

Carmen's smile was sharp and cold. "Cute. But I don't need you two dead. Not yet." She turned towards her colleagues. "Bring the girl forward." The group of soldiers behind her parted. Two soldiers dragged forward a beaten, bleeding Alora forward on her knees. Her blood ran silver over her head, face and arms.

"No!" Rose and Elita both tried to move forward. The two soldiers behind Rose finally took hold of her arms and pulled her back. Seconds later, she felt a similar restraint being put around her elbows, forcing her wrists up to her chest and pinning her arms like that. She cried out as the restraint clicked into place, jolting her throbbing shoulder.

Alora fell to her knees in front of Carmen. She coughed up a little blood. "Go to Taerna." Rose hoped that Taerna was the equivalent of hell here.

Carmen's ruthless smile increased. "Your cousin does not feel the consequences of your betrayal quite strongly enough." She told Alora.

"We betrayed no one," Alora coughed.

"Consistency," Carmen said. "I can appreciate that." She knelt down next to Alora. "You're loyal. Loyalty goes a long way with me. As long as you're loyal to _me_." Quick as a comet, she drew out a dagger and plunged it deep in Alora's chest.

Elita howled and fought against her restraints as sobs consumed her. Manaia was screaming at her. All of the noise dulled in the back of Rose's mind as she watched Alora fall backward as Carmen yanked the blade out of her. The soldiers let go of Alora and rose up, moving away from her bleeding body. Carmen stepped back and looked towards the Rose, Manaia and Elita.

"This is just a taste of the retribution your people will receive."

"No!" Rose struggled against her restraint. "Leave the rest of them alone. Please." She could feel herself shaking as she looked down at Alora whose eyes were closing forever. As the remainder of life slipped from the Yaehirian, Rose felt sick and guilty and furious all at once. She looked up at Carmen. "I won't fight you. I'll go quietly. Just leave them alone."

Carmen smiled at Rose. "You're in no position to bargain. I already have you." She looked towards Elita and Manaia. "Those two might be useful though," she said. "Take them away," she ordered the soldiers holding the engaged couple. "As for the rest," she addressed her soldiers, her eyes now on Rose, "burn this place to the ground. I want them all dead."

"BITCH!" Rose roared at her, thrashing harder against her restraints. Ahead of her, Elita and Manaia were screaming harder. "YOU COMPLETE BITCH-!" Rose's cries stumbled as she felt a needle poke into the side of her neck. Her vision began to blur. "N-no… no… n-no…" Rose mumbled as she lost consciousness, the screams of the Yaehiri etched into her mind.


	5. Chapter 5: Desire of the Wolf

Rose woke up on a soft surface. She felt a pillow beneath her head and sheets under her fingertips. Her head felt light and spacey especially when her eyes started to flicker open. She blinked a few times. Whiteness surrounded her. The more she blinked, the more things came into focus. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked about the room.

There wasn't much to it. Beneath her was a pure white bed, next to an equally white bedside table. A little ways away from the foot of the bed was a door that was only distinguishable from the white walls by the crack of darkness outlining it. Rose looked towards the rest of the room which mainly consisted of a floor to ceiling window, looking out onto a city.

The city was huge and packed together as if it had been designed to conserve space. House and shopping centres and apartment buildings were all packed together. Roads cut through the buildings, blending in with them as cars rushed by. It took Rose a moment to realise that the cars were hovering above the ground. Some of them were flying through the air, above the skyscrapers and metallic towers. Train tracks hovered through the air, linking some of the larger buildings then continuing into the distance, carrying trains into the horizon. There were no signs of grass or parks or anything of natural scenery. The city spread out for miles, beneath a pale golden sky. Buses flew about the area and in the far right, Rose saw a rocket taking off while another one landed.

"Where is this place?" she whispered.

"This is Racheon," a female computer voice spoke up. "Racheon is the hub of intergalactic travel in the universe."

Rose looked around, searching for the speakers, to see where the voice had come from. But all she could see was white and no sign of a camera lens or any speakers. The room really wasn't that big. Rose's gaze fell on the door. She had her suspicion even before she walked over and took hold of the handle. It didn't budge. This wasn't a room, this was a cell. Wherever she was in Racheon, she was stuck in this room.

As she stepped backwards, she looked down at her clothes. Gone were her blue jumper and black trousers. Now she was dressed in a loose white shirt and matching trousers with her feet covered by white slip ons. She shifted on the spot, frowning. She felt like a ghost, surrounded by so much white. Rose turned back towards the window and walked over to it, cautiously reaching out and touching the glass. It felt cool against her warm fingers.

"Racheon," she repeated quietly. "So this is like a train station?" she asked the computer.

"That is an old Earth comparison," the computer remarked - Rose felt her cheeks redden - "but yes the comparison is suitable. Racheon has many forms of transportation and travels to many points in the universe."

"Like Earth?" Rose asked. "Can it take me to Earth?"

There was a short pause. "There is no direct route to Earth. Further information must be acquired at the hub station."

Rose closed her eyes. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. But still, there was hope.

A hissing sound announced the opening of the door and Rose turned around. Carmen, the silver-haired woman who killed Alora, entered with a bottle of wine under one arm and a small basket in the other. "My boss sends his regards and some sustenance for you," she said crossing over to the bedside table and depositing the bottle of wine and the basket.

"Wine and he's feeding me?" Rose asked. "That's almost nice for someone who had me kidnapped."

Carmen smiled as she turned around to face Rose. "You'll find my boss can be very reasonable with the right cooperation," she said. "You'll find out for yourself soon enough." She moved towards the window, gazing out at the view before turning back to Rose. "As for the alcohol, you might want to save that for when the real fun begins."

"What real fun? Why am I here?" Rose demanded. "Whatever you think you're doing, you've got it all wrong. Or you've got the wrong person."

"I don't think so. My people have assured me that they detected traces of the entity on your presence. They scanned you again on arrival just to be sure before you meet my boss."

"What entity? What are you talking about?"

"You know this playing dumb thing is quite cute. But it's getting boring now," Carmen rolled her eyes as she spoke. "I'll spell it out for you. But I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. The words Bad Wolf mean anything?"

Rose tried. She really tried not to show the recognition on her face but she couldn't help it. Her eyes widened just a fraction, her breath sucked in for a moment, holding in time.

Carmen continued to smile. "I can see the cogs whirring. "Oh _that_ supernatural entity." I can see the name is not new to you." Rose pressed her lips close together, determined not to say anything. Carmen seemed to be even more pleased by Rose's silence. "You can pretend not to understand what I'm talking about but you'll soon realise that playing games with us is not in your best interests at all. But I'm sure my employer will entertain you for a while."

"What does he want with me?"

"The Bad Wolf entity," Carmen told her. "He wants to extract it from you and put it to his purpose."

"Let me guess," Rose growled, "he wants to take over the universe with it."

Carmen laughed. "How childish and how much work that would take to maintain," she remarked. "My employer's reasons are his own and are none of your business."

Rose's stomach was sinking deeper and deeper within her body. "I guess he's not fussy about whether I survive this process."

Carmen folded her arms and moved to lean back against the nearest wall. "I wouldn't be," she admitted, "but my boss doesn't believe in wasting life. There are many other ways to dispose of someone once they've outlived their use," she told Rose. "If you cooperate with him, he'll make sure you have the… least amount of _inconvenience_, shall we say."

Rose felt some bile rise up in her throat. She had a pretty vivid imagination as to what that could mean. "Doesn't sound like it's going to be very pleasant for me."

"It's not," Carmen confirmed with relish. "But there are worse fates. Like being dead."

"Yeah," Rose said, "but my being dead doesn't help you out does it? Otherwise you could have just killed me, like you did Alora, and bring my body back here."

Carmen grinned at her. "Clever girl."

"So there's only so far you can threaten me right now," Rose pointed out. "But you're wasting your time. A friend of mine took the entity out of me."

"There's still enough to leave a trace," Carmen explained. "Enough for it to show up on our search. It's enough to start the process of reviving Bad Wolf."

"You're chasing a fool's dream," Rose said. "Isn't there a better use for your time? Like rotting in prison?"

Carmen laughed, maintaining her gaze on Rose. "That's cute and it's funny. You've got a lot of guts girl, I'll give you that. But you might want to watch that tongue of yours. You're not the only person here who can be punished for your thoughtless words."

Rose's expression shot south so fast as images of Manaia and Elita flashed through her head. She could hear their screams as Alora was killed in front of them. For these few minutes, she had forgotten that they had been taken too. She took a step back, away from Carmen, and another. One by one until she was backed against the wall. "Where are they?" she asked, dread clogging up her throat. "Did you kill them?"

"Your little Yaehiri friends?" Carmen asked. "Not yet. But that can always change if you'd prefer to cause us trouble." She took a few steps closer to Rose. "Believe me I would enjoy adding their corpses to the mass grave on Yaehiri. Think on that."

Rose looked away from her. She could still see the town burning in her mind and hear the frightened cry of the peaceful people. She wondered how many had died that night and then immediately decided she didn't want to know. It was her fault Hollow Oak had burned. These murderers had pursued her here and Rose couldn't do a thing to change that fact. Elita had lost her cousin because they had chosen to help Rose. If they'd left her in the plains outside of town maybe they would have been spared. Tears began to fill Rose's eyes.

"Don't touch them," Rose whispered.

"You know what to do then," Carmen said. "Or rather, you know what not to do." She walked to the doorway and stopped to look sideways at Rose. "Waste our time and see what happens," she added ominously before leaving the room. Rose heard the click of the door, followed by a keypad being pressed. So her cell was coded. Rose wished she had the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. She still remembered the setting for opening locks.

Rose walked over to the window and looked out on the bustling transportation hub that was Racheon.

There wasn't a lot of room to pace but Rose found that she really couldn't settle sitting on the bed for long periods of time. Sometimes she stood at the window, watching the hub of activity in the city, looking down at the various races walking between the transport rails and the shops and ticket stations. Hours passed alternating between these two things. She managed to eat some of the bread and cheese that Carmen had brought her. (It was a safe bet to assume it wasn't poisoned) and had a few glasses of the wine. Now everything was kind of tinted with a comfortable haze. As Rose paced further around the cell, she thought maybe she'd be able to sleep soon.

Rose heard the numerous beeps of a code being inputted and turned her head towards the door. Carmen walked into the room, immediately side-stepping to let a larger person past. It was a tall, broad shouldered man with pale skin, ear length, slicked-back, well groomed silver hair and wearing silver military uniform. His eyes were like cold, silver coins. His attention focused on Rose and an unpleasant smile took over his face as he stepped up to her, near the window.

"Rose Tyler," he said, reaching for her hand and plucking it, forcefully, into the air, "the pleasure is mine."

Rose yanked her hand back. "Well that's not mutual," she answered him. She heard Carmen give a vindictive little laugh from the corner. The stranger's smile remained.

"Yes, Carmen advised me that you would be somewhat difficult. But I've been informed that she has given you some indication of what you can expect if you do not cooperate with us," he remarked, his hands moving behind his back. "Is that right?"

Rose glared at Carmen and then returned her gaze to the stranger. "I guess you're the big boss then."

"Cegg, President of Racheon," came the cool introduction.

"Oh wonderful. Another corrupt politician!" Rose exclaimed.

Cegg laughed. "You are an amusing girl. Full of spirit. This is encouraging. Very encouraging."

"What, for your chance to get your hands on Bad Wolf?"

"It does help that the entity has a strong host body."

Rose's fists clenched and she looked out over the alien hub that was Racheon. She wondered how many people were out there, living their lives as normal. But Rose's life had not been normal in a long time. Not since she had met the Doctor. She couldn't pretend that she even recognized normal now. Not the normal she knew anyway. She watched the traffic in the air for a few more moments and then finally forced herself to look Cegg in the face again.

"If she wanted to go anywhere, surely she'd just leave." Rose pointed out. "I don't want this."

"Oh I think things are more complicated than that," Cegg said. "Perhaps so complicated that even the entity is limited, perhaps even to how she is contained. But rest assured I have the resources to investigate and experiment this phenomenon. You could be a valuable help in that process."

"Oh yeah I'm gonna rest easy hearing that."

Cegg laughed and planted his hands on his hips for a moment, leaning back on his heels. "It's not as if you have to die for this process to happen. I'm a reasonable man-"

"Clearly."

"-and I don't like wasting life."

Rose highly doubted that. Another theory came to her mind. "That and you need me alive for the extraction."

His expression was grim. Rose saw his lips tighten. "More importantly, I'm a diplomat. Negotiating difficult situations is part of my job."

"This isn't a situation," Rose said. "This is you wanting something and being prepared to do anything to get it."

"Oh but it is a predicament. You see, you have to be alive for this transfer to take place," Cegg said. He began to walk around her in slow circles. "The fastest way would be to just throw you in the lab and try and straight extraction." He then pulled a face. "But, unfortunately, that will just create more trouble in the short and the long term. I don't doubt that the entity is protective of you - its host body. Besides all that, you'd only fight back and the situation would be much worse. However," he paused and returned to standing in front of Rose again, "if you were to work willingly with us, we are much more likely to find our solution faster. You say you don't want this being? Then help us. We both win."

Rose stepped away from him. "Yeah, I'm smelling bullshit right there. Sounds too good to be true."

Cegg walked to the window. He looked over at Carmen whose unpleasant smile showed no signs of diminishing. He then looked back at Rose. "I can see you're not a fool."

"Then why treat me like one?" she countered, folding her arms. She saw Cegg's eyes rove downwards then upwards, taking her in. She felt nausea creep into her throat.

"I like to work people out before I tell them the facts," he said. "You seem like a bright young woman so I will be straight with you. We have here a situation that will help us both out if we're willing to cooperate. Your side of the bargain is considerably rougher of course but you do have an ancient entity inside you. If you were to agree to give me what I want then I would give you your freedom. Your mind would have to be wiped of the whole experience of course but I would make sure you were richly rewarded."

Rose wrinkled her nose. "What's to stop you going back on your word and just killing me at the end of it all?"

"As I said," this time Cegg's voice was hardened, "I don't like wasting life. A mind wipe is easier to deal with than a murder. Hiding bodies is harder than wiping memories."

Rose scowled up at him. "How would a mind wipe help me? If you wipe my mind, I won't know who I am or what I want."

Cegg smiled. Maybe he thought it was meant to be reassuring and pleasant but if it was, he'd failed dismally. He clasped his hands together as he spoke. His gaze remained on her although his eyes didn't linger long on hers."I'm not talking about a total mind wipe." He assured her. "Just anything connected with us. We would wipe these experiences. Heck," he said snapping his fingers and beginning to walk in a slow circle around his space in the room, "we can even place false memories. You would remember nothing further than travelling here from Yaehiri. You wouldn't even have to remember what happened there. As far as you'd be concerned, you left Yaehiri for Racheon and have no idea what happened there. You can go on your way with some money to get you there and you'd be entity-free."

Rose had to bite back a curse word. He was talking about manipulating her mind like it was nothing. She wondered how many times he'd done it before. Was he practiced at it? Could he even do it properly? Had he ever messed it up in the past? Were there people going around with damaged minds because of him? It wasn't hard for any of these negative possibilities to enter her mind. The deepening unpleasant smile on Carmen's face wasn't doing Rose's worry any favours either.

"Just like that?" she asked.

"Yes. As I said, I am willing to arrange a deal with someone willing to cooperate," Cegg said, now standing with his back to the window.

The sky was turning purple now, dusk having fallen over the planet. Less cars and trains were flying through the air. The city was lighting up and Rose was reminded of pictures of Times Square at night or Tokyo. Only the alien equivalent. It should have been a beautiful scene. Rose should have been viewing it from outside, in the middle of the city, not from behind the window of a prison. She should have been standing with the Doctor, listening to him rattle off some random facts about the place.

There were a lot of things that should have been. Rose understood that now. But she'd been in dangerous scrapes before. Now she had to figure out a way to escape without the Doctor. She could do it. She wasn't completely that dependent girl from the Powell estate. She'd picked up a lot of tricks over her time in the TARDIS. Her survival instinct was stronger with experience. Besides Cegg wasn't the first asshole that had captured her. But Rose hoped he would be the last.

She had to think smart. She had to think like the Doctor. That meant fighting the instinct to tell this bastard where he could stick his offer.

"Right. Say I believe you," Rose said. "What about the others? The two girls brought in with me? What happens to them?"

"The two Yaehirians," Cegg's voice was like rust as he chuckled. "Yes they were particularly feisty, as I recall. They pose no value to me. It's you that I require. I do not need them alive."

Rose swallowed back the lump of nausea in her throat. _Stay calm. Stay calm._ "But they're alive now. You haven't harmed them?" she asked.

Cegg's unpleasant smile grew. "No. They have not been harmed yet," he said. He tilted his head and walked over to her. "Noble of you to show concern about them. You've hardly known them a day… a little more than that?"

"Doesn't mean I don't care," Rose fired back.

He stopped in front of her. He was a good foot or so taller than her. His breath smelled painfully minty, like the scent had been sharpened to slice through Rose's nostrils. "Would you like me to make them part of the deal?" he asked. "Your cooperation in exchange for your freedom and finance and the lives of your friends. As well as their return home obviously." The more he spoke, the more sure she was that this was too good to be true. Guys like him weren't that generous and there had to be something of a lie in his words.

"Yes," Rose said. "If you want me to agree to this, they have to be part of the bargain."

Cegg didn't speak for about a minute. Every second of that painful pause passed by fuelling Rose's anticipation and fear. Finally he nodded once. "We have an agreement then Miss Tyler," he said. He stepped away from her. "Your friends will remain contained for now. But they will not be harmed. Their minds will be wiped before they are taken to Yaehiri."

Rose grit her teeth. "Thank you."

"Excellent. Now the real work begins."

"These tests," Rose voiced the new question from her mind, "how will they take place? How do you experiment for this? Is it a blood test?" From behind Cegg, Rose saw Carmen's smile begin to deepen before curving upwards into a vile grin.

Cegg's smile remained as cold and unpleasant as ever. "These tests may take many forms. It all depends on how fast we yield the results. I suppose I should warn you that these tests can be very… invasive."

Rose suppressed the shiver that shot down her back. She forced her body to remain really still. She watched Cegg's eyes on her face. She kept her expression blank.

He chuckled again. "You're brave. I can admire that," he said. He turned and strode towards the door. "Tomorrow our real work begins. So rest up, girl." He entered a code into the door and was gone, Carmen following, her smirk widening as she shut the door behind them.

Rose felt her whole body sag as soon as the door was shut. She sank onto the bed, her hands shaking as the enormity of Cegg's implications began to weigh in.

_I'm going to be tortured. _

She brought her hand to her mouth as the sickness in her throat grew worse.

"Computer, where's the bathroom?" Rose murmured after lowering her hand. "Or do I have to ask permission for that too?"

"You have been granted bathroom privileges a minute ago," the computer confirmed._ Right when I agreed to the deal,_ Rose thought.

A door appeared next to the exit door. It was barely distinguishable apart from a small golden handle. Rose got to her feet and walked through it. It was a small ensuite bathroom with a circular bath and a small shower nozzle. White fluffy towels rested on heated railings. Rose turned towards the sink and the tiny mirror that hung above it. Some of the nausea had disappeared but she still looked pale.

Rose took in a few breaths. _You just need time to think of a plan. You just need time to think. You can do this._

But could she? Could she really get herself and her new friends out? Could this Cegg even be trusted to honour his word? No. She couldn't depend on that,


End file.
